The general concept of simplifying the performance of a specific activity by providing a caddy for carrying the necessary tools and accessories that relate to the task is well documented in the prior art See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,771 for a wheeled caddy and U.S. Pat. No. 7,987,552 for a floor care appliance with a tool caddy, among others.
The prior art is also replete with luggage covers with various features for protecting either a soft or hard shell piece of luggage. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,093,699 which discloses a luggage cover that has a panel which is expandable to accommodate and expandable luggage container. Also see U.S. published application No. 20160066669 that discloses a stretchable sleeve-like cover.
While there are multiple disclosures in both of these arts, there has been no combination of the two that is specifically directed to aircraft passengers that want to have carry-on luggage but at the same time want to be able to have access during the flight to various accessories, such as a laptop computer, headphones or a sandwich, without having to wrestle the luggage out of the overhead bin storage to retrieve these items.
It is therefore the primary object of this invention to provide a pliant fabric caddy for carrying the type of accessories a passenger would want to carry aboard an aircraft such as a laptop computer, sound canceling headphones, reading materials and the like which, after removing some or all of the accessories, the caddy can be folded and placed under a seat.
A second object of the invention is to provide a convenient carrier for the caddy in the form of the traditional soft or hard shell carry-on luggage. The caddy is in the form of a sleeve-type cover for the body of the luggage.
In operation, the cover/caddy is placed onto the body of the luggage and loaded with the desired accessories. When aboard the aircraft, the cover/caddy is removed from the luggage which is then stored in the overhead bin for the duration of the flight. At the seat, the passenger unloads ail or some of the accessories and folds the caddy into a shape and size that will fit underneath the seat. The folded caddy is immediately available for retrieval of accessory items left in the caddy without having to obtain the carry-on luggage from the overhead bin.